Pharmacy career deciding: making choice a “good fit”

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore factors influencing career deciding amongst pharmacy students and graduates in the UK.Design/methodology/approach – Group interviews were used to devise a topic guide for five subsequent focus groups with pharmacy students and graduates. Focus groups were tape‐recorded, recordings transcribed, and transcripts analysed. Key themes and interlinking factors relating to pharmacy career deciding were identified in the transcripts, following a constructivist approach.Findings – Participants' described making a “good fit” between themselves, their experiences, social networks etc. and pharmacy. Central to a coherent career deciding narrative were: having a job on graduation; and the instrumental advantage of studying a vocational course.Research limitations/implications – Focusing on career deciding of UK pharmacy students and graduates may limit the study's generalisability to other countries. However, our findings are relevant to those interested in understan...